Stoke defender Danny Higginbotham has said City will recover from the defeat at West Ham, which saw Ricardo Fuller sent-off for striking Andy Griffin.
Fuller slapped his club captain in the 2-1 defeat on Sunday after Carlton Cole had equalised for the Hammers.
Higginbotham told BBC Radio Stoke: "It obviously shouldn't have happened, but it did and we have to deal with it.
"There's a great group of lads in our dressing room and we'll stick together and see this through."
The defeat to the Hammers extended Stoke's winless run to six games and ensured they entered the new year in the bottom three of the Premier League.
"People outside the football club are going to be doubting us now," said Higginbotham.
"But we're here for the long haul and we'll be scraping for every point that we can to make sure that we stay in this league.
"We were down in the dressing room after the West Ham game, but now we've dealt with it and we'll move on."
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